


Sweater Weather

by EJ (girlwitham4carbine)



Series: Fanfic Fanmix [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2059572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlwitham4carbine/pseuds/EJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joel took this time to think about Ray and the close friendship they had developed over the short time they had worked together. Their personalities just seemed to click; Ray’s calm demeanor kept Joel’s mind steady, and Joel’s sense of humor always had Ray laughing until he could no longer breathe.</p><p>It was simple, they were simple.</p><p>So why did Ray look so beautiful to him in that moment?</p><p>Right, because he loved him.</p><p>Simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweater Weather

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one year ago today! (I've been in the ragehappy fandom that long oh my gosh) I decided to edit/rewrite this as mainly a present to myself and an excuse to finally put it on AO3.  
> I fell super in love with the song Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood and decided to show that love with Joelay. The lyrics are a bit all over the place, but that's for story's sake.
> 
> I look forward to another year of improvement and fun in this fandom! <3 Enjoy!
> 
> Originally posted here: http://ejraptor.tumblr.com/post/57052629496/hoodie-weather

> _All I am is a man_
> 
> _I want the world in my hands_

Joel thought he was slated to lead a normal life, manage to snag himself a job doing something he loved and maybe start a normal American family (if he was being ambitious). He was just a simple man after all.

So when he started crushing on his 23 year old coworker, he realized that there was no way in hell that was going to happen.

When he was younger, decades ago at this point, he wanted to hold the world in the palm of his hands; to have power and influence and actually mean something to somebody. But when he first saw Ray, he knew deep down that he would give everything like that up for someone like him. The boy had barely introduced himself to Joel before visions of late summer nights and holding hands on patios ran tracks through his mind. He somehow managed to not make a fool of himself, though Geoff and Burnie gave him that same fucking look that screamed they knew just what Joel had been thinking. Once Ray walked off in search of the other offices, Geoff stayed a few paces behind, quietly telling Joel, “Don’t fuck with him too badly, you idiot."

Joel just sighed, wondering where he had gone wrong.

> _I hate the beach_
> 
> _But I stand_
> 
> _In California with my toes in the sand_

He hated the beach. The air tasted of salt and the wind would blow piercing sand onto the back of your bare legs. The water was cold and murky, dark and dismal even on the sunniest of summer days. It was just a miserable place.

But when he saw the smile on Ray’s face as he ran past him towards the dark icy water, face lit up by the expanse of stars overhead, he felt he could learn to like it.

They had come to San Diego with some other coworkers to help run the booth in the exhibit hall of San Diego Comic Con. It was taxing, as any convention was, but with the sheer amount of people this year, even more so. As the first day finally came to a close, Ray and Joel opted to walk back to the hotel instead of going out to local bars with the rest of their group. They found themselves in comfortable silence, temperature pretty mild considering it was California in the middle of summer, likely because they walked right alongside the sea. Ray stayed a few feet in front of Joel, moving his feet along the planks of the boardwalk in a slow march. He suddenly stopped, arms falling to his sides as he stared out at the calm waves. Joel stopped as well, trying to find what the kid was so damn fascinated by.

 _Its just some dark, nasty water_ _…_ he thought to himself, a scowl falling across his face.  But when Ray swiftly turned to look at him with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his face asking if they could go down to the water, he felt it hard to say anything but yes. It explained why he was currently standing at the edge of the tide, freezing his butt off while watching his coworker splash around in the water like a 5 year old.

Joel took this time to think about Ray and the close friendship they had developed over the short time they had worked together. Their personalities just seemed to click; Ray’s calm demeanor kept Joel’s mind steady, and Joel’s sense of humor always had Ray laughing until he could no longer breathe.

It was simple, they were simple.

So why did Ray look so beautiful to him in that moment?

Right, because he loved him.

Simple.

> _Use the sleeves of my sweater_
> 
> _Let’s have an adventure_

"Come here."

Ray stopped splashing in the water and turned. Joel had a finger crooked out at him, poking out from the large sleeve of his hoodie. Ray moved slowly towards the older man ad as he got closer, Joel saw that his lips had turned purple. He was considerably paler and _wait was he shivering?_

Joel reached for Ray’s hands as soon as he was close enough  and grabbed them, pulling both their hands inside both of his giant sleeves. Ray made a noise of slight protest, but allowed the other to warm his hands, shivering a little more as the wind picked up. Joel could have sworn he saw his face redden as he pulled him closer, faces now only inches apart.

They stood with their hands intertwined inside Joel’s sleeves, slight puffs of air hitting each other’s lips for what seemed like hours before they moved. Ray’s lips were cold, and Joel tried to warm them with his own, moving his mouth against the others with gentle movements and pressure.

They relaxed into one other, the kiss lasting only a minute before Ray pulled away, reminding Joel that they needed to breathe.

His eyes opened slowly ( _just when had he closed them anyways?_ ) and looked down at Ray; his face was flushed and soft pants fell from his now much pinker lips. His eyes  looked  anywhere and everywhere but the other man. And it was adorable.

Joel smiled a little and placed a kiss to the younger’s forehead. “Warmer?” he whispered, letting go of their hands and taking a step back.

"Y-yeah. Let’s head back." Ray said, voice surprisingly steady minus the initial stutter as he walked past Joel, heading back towards the boardwalk. Joel followed.

They next day, they didn’t bring it up.

Nor the day after that.

Despite the kiss having all kinds of potential to make things awkward between them, it didn’t. Ray still joked around like the asshole he was and they exchanged their regular friendly banter. They even bordered on flirting as per usual, the only difference being Ray’s cheeks dusting just a shade darker than normal at the lewd comments that came out of Joel’s mouth.

Joel wondered if this was Ray’s way of rejecting him. He told himself to stop wondering after that.

> _Head in the clouds but my gravity’s centered_
> 
> _Before they started dating, he would often daydream._

He would lie in bed, teetering between sleep and consciousness; imagining Ray’s warmth next to him, holding him close. He would imagine Ray getting up to make breakfast, calling him a sleepyhead and laughing lightly and happily. He would just imagine him there, a warm presence filling the space and making his bare apartment seem like a home.

Joel knew full well that his daydreams would probably never happen. He wasn’t a hopeless dreamer; he learned the world didn’t work that way a long time ago. He knew Ray was 18 years younger than him, he knew he was in the prime of his young adult life, he knew that he probably wouldn’t want anything to do with an old man like him (an old man with a ton of neuroses and anxiety to boot). He also knew that Ray swinging for the other team was really unlikely, but he wasn’t going to ask him about that.

He wanted to keep daydreaming just a little bit longer.

> _Touch my neck and I’ll touch yours_
> 
> _You in those little high waisted shorts, oh_

It started as a joke he swears. Touching each others necks to weird the other out (for them, the line between jokes and truth was blurred long ago). No way was Joel milking this joke for all it was worth, no way in hell.

It had been going on for weeks and many had become aware of their game. Michael laughed at them and told them to go fuck already. Gavin just yelled ‘X-Raaaay aaaand J-Rooooll!’ Geoff would just sigh at them, saying something about needing more whiskey.

Joel didn’t think anything would ever come of this little competition they had. But when Ray walked into his office that day, slight blush on his cheeks and shorts a little more high-waisted then normal, he was’t so sure anymore.

"Those bastards.. They made me wear these and practically threw me in here. Sorry…" The pout was audible in his words and Joel just laughed, full and warm.

Ray looked up at him and smiled, glad that Joel understood his plight and that every other Hunter was a fucking prick. What man even has a pair of women’s high-waisted shorts to use in a bet? Who even knew with those guys anymore, all Ray knew was he was stupid to even bet he would win today’s let’s play. Something seemed- and obviously had been- off. And now here he was, standing in a teenage girl’s shorts in the middle of Joel’s large office.

As Ray was thinking over the past few hours of his blight, Joel was staring like a lion in the middle of a hunt. The way the shorts hugged his hips- not quite womanly, but not manly either- and how they made Ray squirm and cheeks flush a dark wine red. Joel couldn’t take it anymore.

He stood up from his desk chair and walked over to Ray, who backed himself up against the door as he approached. There was a look in Joel’s eyes that was fierce, and his hand moved slowly towards the other’s neck, face moving forward with it.

Ray swallowed nervously, unsure of what exactly the older man was doing. As the warm hand made contact with his neck, the other’s face barely separate from his own, Ray’s mind ran right back to the night on the beach. Joel’s lips had been rough and chapped, but soft and warm- like a night light, he thought absently. He realized he wanted Joel to kiss him again.

So Ray moved his hand, bringing it up to the other’s neck and feeling his heartbeat so strongly against his fingertips. Joel’s eyes widened ever so slightly and Ray used that moment to lean forward, closing the small gap between them.

The kiss changed from chaste and simple, to urgent and rushed when Joel moved his other hand to Ray’s waist, feeling the rough fabric of the shorts. His hand slowly made its way upward and under his t-shirt, caressing the tanned skin there. Ray fisted his other hand into his silk black locks, small tugs earning him a soft hiss from the older man.

They continued to explore the other’s mouths until Joel pulled away, pupils wide and deeply breathing in the oxygen. Ray’s eyes were clouded with pleasure and Joel thought he had become lost in them until he realized the other was speaking.

"So, are we finally a thing now?"

Joel could have cried for joy.

> _(S)he knows what I think about_

Ray became very well versed in the language of Joel Heyman. He knew the minute differences in his facial expressions he would make for exactly what he wanted. When he wanted to go out for food, his eyes would shine just a bit brighter and his smile would be gentle. When he wanted to go out on a date, that smile would have a bit of smirk hidden in it, eyes twinkling with confidence and mirth. When he wanted to kiss or snuggle, his face would beam, eyes bright and smile contagious and infecting.

He also knew when Joel wanted to have sex with him. He would have that same confidence in his eyes as if he wanted to go out but a full out smirk that made him look like a beast eyeing its prey. Ray would just politely smile, not wanting to rush their relationship but feeling bad when that confidence went out like a fading flame in his eyes.

He would lean up and peck him on the cheek, eyes would re-igniting with the familiar fondness and love.

> _And what I think about_

Joel wanted to have sex with him for a long time, well before he kissed him on that beach in California. He imagined what it would take to make him moan his name in pleasure, his back arching up from the bed sheets and pleading him for more, more _more._

He tried to keep these thoughts to a minimum; they were still coworkers. But once they became an item it was hard to- with those looks Ray always gave him when he thought he wasn’t looking. Those big little doe eyes looking at him with hesitant want. And somehow, that little mind-reader would always know exactly when he was thinking about it. He gave him his little kiss on the cheek as a silent apology every single time.

But honestly, as long as Ray kept doing that he was sure he could live without the sex. Just barely.

> _These hearts adore_
> 
> _Everyone the other beats hardest for_

They both fell in love with each other long before they said it out loud.

Joel fell in love with Ray when he they first kissed (everything seems to comes back to that night). He realized it the first time Ray came over to his apartment. He had fallen asleep on Joel’s shoulder as they lay on the couch watching some shitty movie. He could feel Ray’s heart on the offbeat of his own. As he watched him with a gentle look on his face, all Joel could think was how much he was in love.

He finally said it on Ray’s birthday, long after their friends and coworkers had left his small one bedroom apartment. They were sitting on his plump couch, cuddling pillows and talking about the best parts of the long day. Ray was smiling brightly as he recounted Gavin and Michael’s antics. Joel listened, taking in his boyfriend (the word still a foreign thought in his mind).

His eyes were twinkling behind his glasses, cheeks flushed a light watermelon just from his enthusiasm. Joel really loved him, and as he watched him radiate he decided he should finally let him know that.

"I love you."

Ray wasn’t sure when he had first fell in love with Joel, but it had hit him like a ton of bricks in the face when they had kissed again in Joel’s office. He had made a mental note to thank his coworkers, despite the embarrassment of that damn bet.

He finally said it after Joel had. He stopped talking and smiled even brighter, cheeks staring to hurt.

“I love you too.”

> _Inside this place is warm_
> 
> _Outside it starts to pour_

The pitter-patter of rain outside the window almost lulled the couple back to sleep as they lay together in bed. Joel held Ray close, arms wrapped tightly around his waist and face buried against the crook of his neck as he listened to the slow breathing against his chest.

“Warm..” the younger mumbled, burrowing his face further into Joel’s bare chest. Joel just chuckled, moving one of his hands to his boyfriend’s hair, playing with a few short strands. Ray snuggled even closer to the warm mass next to him and fell back into a light doze.

Before Joel drifted off after him, he heard the faint shower of rain turn into a heavy downpour and thought how happy he was to be next to the person he loved. 

> _Coming down_
> 
> _One love, two mouths_
> 
> _One love, one house_

Joel’s favorite way of showing how much he loved Ray was kissing him. He loved seeing the other’s face blossom different shades of pink and red. He loved feeling soft lips slowly move against his, eager to touch no matter how many kisses they’d already shared. Kissing Ray was like a drug- one he would be perfectly fine becoming addicted to.

One night, as he indulged in his favorite pastime of kissing his boyfriend into oblivion, a thought suddenly struck him. He jumped up and away from Ray, who looked frazzled but not exactly surprised at the sudden outburst.

"I want you to move in with me."

A few weeks and a ridiculous amount of moving boxes later, Ray had become officially situated at Joel’s- their apartment. Joel looked like he had gotten himself a puppy for Christmas and Ray could only laugh at his boyfriend.

This was life now, and they felt they could get used to it.

> _No shirt, no blouse_
> 
> _Just us, you find out_
> 
> _Nothing that I wouldn’t wanna tell you about, no, no, no_

They had been sitting next to each other on the couch, watching a rerun of some late night show neither of them cared about when their hands brushed together- a not-so innocent spark jolting the two out of their normalcy.

Ray got up, removing his shirt and moving to straddle his boyfriend’s lap. His hands found their place on his broad shoulders as he situated himself. Joel looked up at him and saw that question in his eyes. He gave a ‘yes’ when his arms slinked around his waist, pulling the younger in to kiss him fiercely.

Ray gave in, letting out a groan from the back of his throat, hands now pulling at the other’s hair (he really needed a haircut soon). Joel _growled_ , kissing his young boyfriend even harder as he pushed him back onto the sofa. He rolled his hips down and Ray broke apart to let out a long moan. Joel ran kisses up his neck, stopping at a patch of skin between Ray’s neck and shoulder.

"Joel…" Ray whined as he felt teeth sink into the skin. Joel took in the lovely sight when he moved back up to look at the man under him; his hair was disheveled, lips swollen and apart to breathe, face flushed and eyes filled with lust asking that silent question.

"You already know don’t you?" Joel answered, smirking as he moved back to nibble at a spot on his collar bone, hearing the other’s breath hitch.

"I want to hear you say it." Ray managed to say, voice forcing itself steady despite Joel’s ministrations to his neck.

“Oh, I don’t think so. You need to come find out for yourself.” His voice came out in a sultry tone, Ray shivering at the challenge. His eyes locked with Joel’s for a moment, and he muttered back a simple: "You’re on."

Exactly what he wanted to hear.

> _'Cause it's too cold_
> 
> _For you here and now_
> 
> _So let me hold_
> 
> _Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

Ray huffed into his bare hands, hoping to find some warmth as he waited out in the heavy New York snow for his idiot boyfriend. Despite the heavy coat he wore, living in Austin for so long must have worn him down to cold weather. He groaned at the other man’s tardiness and his own forgetfulness. Gloves would have been fantastic right about now.

Ray insisted that they go visit his family back in New York, partially to meet his parents and partially to celebrate their own anniversary. Joel was reluctant, slightly worried about how what they would think of someone nearly their age dating their son. Ray just told him not to worry, citing that his parents also had a fairly large age gap and that “they are going to love you, stop being a huge baby!” This calmed him somewhat, slight worry still biting at him as usual, but he finally agreed.

Ray had planned for that reaction. But what he did not plan for was being forced to wait in a blizzard for his boyfriend to finish his shopping.

He finally caught sight of him exiting the large shopping mall, hands stuffed deep in his pocket and no bags in his hands. Ray eyed him suspiciously; honestly glad he was finally out of there.

"Took you long enough, it’s freezing out here!"

"It’s nice! Here, let me hold your hands."

Ray agreed, moving his hands from his pockets to grab Joel’s. He always emitted warmth, no matter the weather. He was still only sporting a hoodie, despite the heavy snowfall around them. Ray smiled, basking in the warmth of the other’s hands. He felt Joel move his left hand, and something cold and metallic slipped onto his finger.

Ray let go and looked down at his hand, eyes widenin. A silver band was snug on his ring finger, the same shine as the white snow. He looked back up at Joel only to see him down on one knee, cheeks flushed and grinning like an idiot.

"So are you going to say yes or do I have to keep kneeling in the snow?"

Ray’s face remained surprised for another moment before breaking into a huge smile, eyes beaming brighter and happier than Joel has ever seen in his life. His heart raced in love for the man before him.

"No, you have to stay on the ground. That’s payback for making me stay out here."

"Aww,  but will you still marry me?"

"Of course, you idiot."

 


End file.
